The travel adventures of Chuck and Barb Shipley

Monthly Archives: October 2018

On October 16 we said goodbye to Buck and Parks, AZ. (Bill was in Missouri on a visit to his mother. Colleen was in Phoenix, helping her sister adjust to the sudden death of her husband Douglas.) We settled into the expansive Phoenix RV Resort “Desert Shadow”, where Barb and I spent days (days, I tell you) cleaning and then applying 303 protectorant to the roof of the bus and then washing and then waxing the bus. Days, I tell you.

On October 19, we had lunch with Barb’s second cousin Bill Carr, who shares Barb’s interest in genealogy.

On October 22 we got up early and drove up to Flagstaff to see some doctors, and then had lunch with Buck (on a shopping expedition) and Barb’s son Jeff (passing through on his way to Moab.) They had plenty to talk about since they own similar Jeeps.

On October 24 Bill (back from Missouri) and Bruce met us at Phoenix’s RV Harbor where they helped us shoe-horn the bus into a covered storage spot, where the poor bus will languish for approximately six months.

We then drove our CRV to the Las Vegas home of Barb’s father Cliff. Our poor auto will languish there for approximately six months.

We are currently in Atlanta, Georgia to see Nellie and her Atlanta family and will tomorrow briefly visit Barb’s granddaughter Kristen. But more of that and our subsequent visit to Savannah the next edition..

After enduring several days of cold and rain and/or clouds and wind, the forecast predicted a clear and sunny day for October 15. And so it was that Barb and I arose early and headed off to see some of the sites north of Flagstaff. As we were departing the Parks, AZ area we broke into an open area that afforded a nice view of Humphreys Peak. After stopping for a quick photo we continued on to Flagstaff where we took Highway 89 northward some 20 miles. When we reached the turnoff for Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument on our right, we instead turned left onto a gravel road that soon turned into a dirt road that displayed a sign reading “Warning! Not maintained for passenger vehicles!”. Nevertheless, we continued along the forest road that frequently narrowed to a single lane with a deep ditch on the left and a cliff to the right as it climbed uphill some 3 miles to the Lockett Meadow Campground at 8,600 feet.The campground is right near the Inner Basin trailhead, and Barb ventured up a few miles while I focused on the just-turning aspens.

Humphreys Peak

San Francisco Peaks

Looking northward over the precipice

Our second destination was the Wupatki National Monument, which we reached by returning to Highway 89 and then driving through the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument. We didn’t have time to stop at Sunset, but took consolation from having seen some of it back in June 2018. Click here for a reminder.

There is a very impressive Visiter Center in the Wupatki National Monument. Exiting out the rear door gives access to perhaps the most impressive of the ruins in the area.

From Wikipedia:

The many settlement sites scattered throughout the monument were built by the Ancient Pueblo People, more specifically the Cohonina, Kayenta Anasazi, and Sinagua. Wupatki was first inhabited around 500 AD. Wupatki, which means “Tall House” in the Hopi language, is a multistory Sinagua pueblo dwelling comprising over 100 rooms and a community room and ball court, making it the largest building for nearly 50 miles. Nearby secondary structures have also been uncovered, including two kiva-like structures. A major population influx began soon after the eruption of Sunset Crater in the 11th century (between 1040 and 1100), which blanketed the area with volcanic ash; this improved agricultural productivity and the soil’s ability to retain water. By 1182, approximately 85 to 100 people lived at Wupatki Pueblo but by 1225, the site was permanently abandoned. Based on a careful survey of archaeological sites conducted in the 1980s, an estimated 2000 immigrants moved into the area during the century following the eruption. Agriculture was based mainly on maize and squash raised from the arid land without irrigation. In the Wupatki site, the residents harvested rainwater due to the rarity of springs. The dwelling’s walls were constructed from thin, flat blocks of the local Moenkopi sandstone giving the pueblos their distinct red color. Held together with mortar, many of the walls still stand. Each settlement was constructed as a single building, sometimes with scores of rooms. The largest settlement on monument territory is the Wupatki Ruin, built around a natural rock outcropping. With over 100 rooms, this ruin is believed to be the area’s tallest and largest structure for its time period. The monument also contains ruins identified as a ball court, similar to those found in Mesoamerica and in the Hohokam ruins of southern Arizona; this is the northernmost example of this kind of structure. This site also contains a geological blowhole. Other major sites are Wukoki and The Citadel.

Back at the home of Bill & Colleen near Parks, AZ, we soon settled into a happy mix of play and project.

What kind of play? Weightlifting in the garage most mornings, followed by a walk through the woods. Frequent gathering for shared meals in the evening, often followed by card games punctuated by dessert and coffee. Special night on October 5, when we celebrated Buck’s (“Meat’s”) birthday.

Buck relaxing in the house

Exercising in the garage

Casey relaxing in the house

Buck’s birthday

Buck, Bill & Colleen

Barb helping Buck with videos

Cards …

… and more cards!

An early project was the resolving of an “old” problem. Bill, Buck and I wrestled the washing machine out of its enclosure and then removed the rear and top panels, revealing the cause of what had become excessive flopping of the drum. Simple fix. Re-attach the right spring that suspends that side of the drum. How did the spring get loose in the first place? Remember the problem we had back in Washington when the right rear shock and air bag of the bus had to be replaced? Click here to refresh your memory. The bumpy ride that did that damage also disengaged the support spring. Would that all bus problems were so easily and cheaply resolved.

Bill was an especially busy beaver, helping me with my projects and attending to his own. One project sent Bill to his roof to sweep his chimney, a messy job but relatively brief. Much more substantial was his project to improve the drainage in the area to the rear of his garage. Bill and Buck started by deepening and extending by shovel the trench running to the north from behind the garage. Next day they were joined by a neighbor with a backhoe whose efforts considerably speeded the project. Bill & Buck did some major surveying to get the right slope. After the drainage hose had been laid but not covered, Barb & I took up the tripod, level, and rod to help fine tune the gradient.

The most significant project on our bus involved a long-standing electrical problem. It all started months ago, when we were all lounging on the driveway in front of the garage. Suddenly, the awning above the door self-extended. We were all flabbergasted. We used the controls to retract the awning, and after a few minutes of experimentation, during which the controls seemed to work fine, we dismissed the problem. When the same thing happened several weeks later, we disengaged the electrical connection to the awning, for fear that it would one day extend while we were underway. Now, we had time to investigate the problem. We had strong suspicions that the problem was pinched and frayed wires lurking behind a plate on the “ceiling” of the right front wheel well. We raised the front of the bus as much as we could, blocked it up for safety, cranked the wheel to its right limit, and I crawled into the cavity to begin cleaning the plate of its obscuring undercoating. When I had cleaned the sealing edges, it was clear that the plate had been fastened by spot welds. I did my best to grind the welds away, but had little luck. At that point my frequent guardian angel in the person of Buck came yet again to my rescue. He replaced me in the cavity and eventually got the plate off. At that point the source of the original problem became clear. There were several wire bundles running from the center of the bus toward the outer edge. One of them was pinched at that edge because at the time of manufacture, the bundle had not been placed into the appropriate notch that would protect the bundle when the floor of the bus was placed onto the frame. The bundle ran up into the coach. We disconnected the wires in the coach and pulled the wires into the wheel cavity where they could be examined. Several had bare spots that had apparently been grounding on the metal of the frame. Bill & Buck repaired the wires and sent them through the notch back up into the coach, where they were reattached to the connectors and reconnected to the passenger console.

We repaired the somewhat-crinkled plate and reattached it to its position (using screws rather than weld) and sprayed it with undercoating. Ta-da!!!! Thank you Bill and Buck for repairing a chronic problem and removing a dangerous condition.

Chuck beginning the extraction

The nasty plate (bottom of picture frame)

Buck stripping the loom off the wire bundle

The nasty plate after removal

The damaged wires

Bill repairing …

… the wires by soldering

An interesting/interested observer

On October 7 we woke up to a surprise!

My last project was to manufacture, under the tutelage of Benevolent Bill, blocks for use under the bus jacks.

One of the finished products.

Share this:

Before we discuss our visit to Bismarck, let’s review what we already know. We had driven to Las Vegas from Parks, where we had left our RV. I flew from Vegas to San Francisco where I visited my son Wil over the weekend. Barb flew to Bismarck on Aug. 31, arriving just in time to be with my 99 year old mother while my sister Zona went to Europe. I flew to Bismarck on September 4. (Barb later flew back to Vegas to help her father celebrate his 83rd birthday.)

So now that we are all caught up, let’s talk about our visit to North Dakota. Friends and neighbors of Zona, Jerry and Jeanne, were attentive and welcoming. We joined them a couple of times at a restaurant for dinner. They brought over fresh home-baked caramel rolls. They brought over sausages and frozen pheasant. They are both retired, but Jerry still putters at farming. Zona has a huge yard, and Jerry on September 10-12 brought over his swather and then hay baler and then pickup to gather the bales from Zona’s front yard.

99 year-old card shark

Jeanne, Jerry, Mom & Chuck

While I was still in San Francisco, Mom and Barb drove out to Lake Isabel to see Jon and Cathy and their kids Kate & Cole. The apples were ready, and so they all picked apples to be made into cider.

In other miscellaneous news, I saw my dermatologist and escaped without any surgeries or freezings. Barb had her toe X-rayed and finally got assurances that it was healing and that she could abandon the boot.

On September 13, Barb and Mom and I drove south to a spot along the Missouri River that the locals call ‘Desert’ presumably because there is a large sandy area along the inside of a sweeping turn of the river. Its more formal name is “Kimball Bottoms OHV Area”.

On our first trip to the Desert

On September 15 we got up early to drive Mom to a one-day religious meeting in Fargo. After dropping her off safely, we met Barb’s cousin Geri and her husband Denny for an early lunch. After lunch Denny excused himself to attend a football game of the North Dakota State Bison, who are having another wildly successful year. Geri and Barb and I then retired to an adjoining coffee shop where we spent a number of enjoyable hours until it was time to fetch Mom.

(On September 16 Barb flew to Vegas for her father’s birthday, returning on September 20. While Barb was gone, it fell to me to curl Mom’s hair every day.)

On September 21, childhood friends Lynne & Monica came to visit Barb. Our Norwegian friends will recognize those names; those two accompanied us to Spain in 2011 to help Lars Helge & Tove harvest their almonds, to be sure, but mostly to celebrate the birthdays of Barbara and Tove. Our blog of that unforgettable event, made when we had a different blog system, can be found here. (Use the ‘<‘ key to return to a former page in this old blog; some of the links are broken.)

Lynn’s husband Steve came with Lynne and shared a meal with us, but then had to return to Valley City. The girls spent the night. It is always interesting to stay quietly in a corner and watch and listen to these long-time friends reminisce. We also taught the girls how to play 3-to-13 with Barb, Mom and me. Of course, Mom shellacked us.

Barb’s brother Tim stopped in for a nice visit on his way from Carrington to watch his son Preston compete at the Jamestown Speedway. We later learned he took first place on the last night of the season.

Zona returned on Tuesday evening, September 25, pleased with her trip but bushed from the long flight back.

Curling Mom’s hair

Barb in Fargo with her cousin Geri, posing next to a painting based on a photo of their grandfather

Lynne, Barb, Monica & Steve

The girls with a bottle of wine from Spain

Zona after she came back

Barb with her father Cliff

On September 27 Barb and I drove back down to the ‘Desert’ area, knowing that the Cottonwood trees were turning. Barb patiently waited in the car and read while I took an extended walk through the ATV park and along the river, toting my camera and tripod.

Our second visit to the Desert

We flew back to Vegas on the 28th, and drove back down to Parks, AZ on September 30th. But our stay at Parks is a topic for a later post. Stay tuned, or take advantage of the new subscription option.